Over the past couple of weeks, on my favorite Mini website and discussion board, I’ve started conversations that have included, as a factor, how the Mini drives at high speeds. I have the good fortune of having regular access to the autobahns here in Germany, and have benefited from over a dozen years of driving on the autobahns.
But some — almost if not exclusively folks from the US — have dogpiled me in these discussions, saying that driving at such speeds is reckless and, worse, I am a bad, bad man for having my kids in the car with me when driving fast.
The problem, though, is that there are two big holes in their logic.
1. Driving at high speed on the autobahn (let’s say 120 mph) poses greater risk for greater injury. Autobahn = bad. 
Well, see, that makes no sense. I understand that it’s something we all generally agree upon, but it’s not founded in any actual facts. Anyone have any idea what the highway vs. autobahn fatality rates are annually? Here — take a look. 5.2 people killed per billion kilometers driven. Sounds like a lot — and it should because that is the rate for the US, while the rate for the German autobahns is just 3.8 per billion. Interestingly, the rate of fatalities on non-motorways is twice as high in the US, and more than three times higher in Germany. So, really, if my choice is to drive on the autobahn or a German secondary street, or a US highway or a US secondary street, I’m actually going to be safer driving on the autobahn. Huh. Go figure. Conventional wisdom = 0, actual facts = 1.? So, maybe it’s the speed itself that’s the problem.? Oh, wait — no, that’s not it, either.? We just looked at how there are more fatalities on the slower moving highways than on the fast moving autobahns, and ever more on the still-slower moving secondary streets.? Who’d have guessed?
2.? Going that fast is inherently dangerous.? Hmm.? Let’s see.? We could talk about the design speed of the autobahn — that would probably end the discussion pretty quickly.? I usually just ask, “You have flown in an airplane, right?? Don’t they go faster?”? to which I often hear a while litany of, well, crap.? “Oh, the pilots are specially training” or that they have years of accident free driving flying time.? That there are special rules / laws for flying, specially controlled routes, etc.? That the airplanes are meticulously cared for and subjected to the highest standards of inspection and maintenance, etc.? All of this can be said for drivers, vehicles, and the autobahns here, too.? Seriously, coming of age and getting a license to drive here is an insanely expensive and time consuming ritual, and no easy feet.? And the German authorities have no qualms about failing a car at inspection and forcing it into retirement, if it’s unfit for the roads in this country.? You don’t want to know what I pay for tires here, even for winter tires that are rated for 130 mph.? And if 120 mph is too fast and too dangerous (with an autobahn fatality rate lower than that of the US highways), what speed is safe to travel at, if my kids are in the back?? 70 mph, like in the US?? How about 35 mph, like on the secondary roads, where the fatality rate is two or three times higher?? We had an accident in our community a few years ago, where a boy was killed in an accident involving a vehicle traveling at less than 5 mph.
I’ll stick to my autobahns, thank you very much.
